Gujarat rain: Over 4,000 evacuated in state; 25 rescued from bus stranded in Ahmedabad underpass

The worst-affected districts in the state were Vadodara, Anand, Kheda, Navsari and Panchmahal.

Between 6 am and 6 pm on Monday, Padra in Vadodara recorded the highest 270 mm rainfall, followed by Borsad (268 mm) in Anand, Vadodara (262 mm), Kheda (232 mm) in Nadiad, Moria (226 mm) in Panchmahal, Anand (224 mm), Khambhat (223 mm) and Tarapur (192 mm) in Anand, Vaso (187 mm) in Kheda, Tankara (185 mm) in Morbi, Nakhatrana (173 mm) in Kutch, Sojitra (172 mm) in Anand, Godhra (172 mm) in Panchmahal, and Mandvi (166 mm) in Kutch.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red alert for the whole state on Monday. The red alert will continue to be in force in the Saurashtra region including Kutch, Kheda, Anand, Panchmahal, Dahod, Tapi, Navsari and Valsad on Tuesday as well.

In Ahmedabad city, which witnessed over 5 inches of rainfall till 6 pm, the Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services (AFES) rescued 25 people stranded on a bus stuck in a flooded underpass at Parimal junction. The bus was travelling from Jodhpur, Rajasthan to Rajkot in Gujarat.

Jayesh Khadia, Chief Fire Officer, AFES, said, “The bus belonging to Srinath Travels got stuck in the underpass and our team was sent to rescue the passengers. A total of 25 persons including two children were successfully retrieved from the stranded vehicle.”

Since Sunday night, the AFES control room has received information on at least 22 tree collapses across the city.

With heavy rainfall throughout the day, most neighbourhoods including the posh ones like Sindhu Bhawan Road were flooded.

Meanwhile, two cases of house collapse were reported on Monday afternoon. In Dabgarwad, a part of a two-storied house collapsed. The AFES rescued three people safely from the house. In the other incident, residents of Ojas Apartment in the Nehru Nagar area had a close shave when a balcony slab fell off due to the rain. No persons were injured in the collapse.

The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) Monday shifted 1,500 people from low-lying areas in the city to safer locations as the River Vishwamitri started flowing above the danger mark.

Vadodara received 201.8 mm of rainfall between 8 am and 6 pm on Monday, after heavy overnight rain. The River Vishwamitri rose steadily throughout Monday, accompanied by a heavy inflow of water from the Ajwa dam and the Pratappura reservoir.

On Monday evening, Ajwa dam recorded a level of 214.35 feet while Pratappura was at 232.70 feet.

VMC Commissioner Dilip Rana and Mayor Pinky Soni issued video messages, warning residents to stay in safe locations as the city was staring at a flood situation.

Soni said, “The situation is grave and within a few hours, the water from the Vishwamitri will enter several parts of the city. People are advised not to venture out unless necessary… Since Sunday evening, strong winds and rain felled 85 trees, some of which have fallen on adjoining electric poles and live wires… There is also the possibility of dangerous and poisonous reptiles lurking in flood waters.”

Soni also said that the VMC had begun evacuations from low-lying areas on Sunday itself, shifting 1,500 people to 16 VMC schools while 14 other schools have been kept on standby to accommodate more people if necessary. Due to heavy rainfall, in South Gujarat and rise in the water level in the rivers, Navsari district administration shifted 1573 people to safer places 92 in Surat and 1152 people from low lying areas in Valsad districts. Food, medicines and other facilities are been taken care of by the district administrations.

The District Education Officer (DEO) of Vadodara issued a circular to the schools and colleges to remain closed on August 27 in view of the flood-like situation in the city. Surat City DEO Bhagirathsinh Parmar announced a holiday for primary schools and asked the principals of the Secondary and Higher Secondary schools located on the banks of the river and low lying areas to take a call on Tuesday on whether to close the schools on Tuesday, based on the situation.

On Monday evening, the water level in the Ukai dam reached to 336.44 feet with inflow 2.47 lakh cusecs and the same quantity of water was discharged from the dam flooding Tapi river that passes through Surat City. The Singhanpore weir cum causeway was also closed due to overtopping of water.

Surat Municipal commissioner Shalini Agrawal said, “Due to the rise in water level in Tapi river, majorly affected areas in Surat are Katargam, West Zone and Central Zone. We have done mapping in these areas and people staying in these areas on the banks have been alerted. We are in constant touch with the Ukai dam authorities to get to know the discharge of water, so that appropriate management can be done.”
With the rise in the water level in Tapi river, the Municipal authorities, on Monday, shifted 50 people from low lying areas near Pal RTO, while 42 people from Revanagar in Adajan to shelter homes.

In Navsari district, the district administration closed 119 roads including three state highway roads, and other inter village connecting roads.

The water level recorded in all three rivers of Navsari district are, Ambika 36.08 feet (28 feet danger level), Kaveri 19.50 feet (19 feet) and Purna 25.50 feet (23 feet) is flowing above danger levels.

Navsari district collector Kshipra Agre said, “Due to heavy rainfall since the last couple of days the water level in the rivers in the district has gone above the danger level. The water entered some of the villages located on the river banks. We have shifted 1573 people staying in the villages on the banks of these rivers. Among these over 900 people were shifted to shelter homes while remaining others have shifted to their relatives houses. The food, medicines and other facilities have been provided to them. We have also sent messages to those who had shifted to relatives’ place to store foods and medicines till Tuesday afternoon, and if they don’t have they should contact the administrative officials for help.”

She further added, “In last 48 hours, Navsari district has recorded 100 mm rainfall; among this, Khergam taluka recorded 417 mm, Vansda 265 mm, Chikhli 172 mm, Gandevi 140 mm. The reason behind the rise in the water level in Purna river is heavy rainfall in upper catchment areas.”

In Valsad district over 1152 people living on the river banks and low lying areas have been shifted to the Shelter homes by the district administrations.

Valsad district collector A N Dave said, “Due to the forecast of heavy rainfall, the district recorded 8 inch rainfall on Sunday. While on Monday, the district had received an average of 37.83 percent rainfall. Several low-lying areas in Valsad town and few villages were inundated into the rain water. By Monday afternoon 1152 people had been shifted to safer places. We have stopped 128 roads including 2 state highways and other internal district panchayat and Taluka panchayat roads. WE have appealed to the people to remain inside their homes and not to come out or visit low-lying areas, without work.”

The Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) opened 23 radial gates of the dam to a height of 2.2 metres on Monday to release a total of 3.5 lakh cusecs of water. The Narmada dam has been receiving heavy inflow from upstream in Madhya Pradesh with Indirasagar and Omkareshwar dams generating hydropower in full capacity. The current inflow into the Sardar Sarovar on Monday is 2.97 lakh cusecs and the level of the dam is at 135.20 metres – just about three metres short of its Full Reservoir Level of 138.68 metres.

The Riverbed Powerhouse (RBPH) of the Narmada dam is also being run to its full capacity for hydropower generation and currently releasing 45,133 cusecs of water downstream while the Canal Head Powerhouse is also releasing an additional 23,120 cusecs of water.

The Sardar Sarovar dam is currently 88.74 per cent full.